


Bachelorette party essentials

by writinginthegutter



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Sex Shop, Awkwardness, Crush, F/F, One Shot, Short, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-30 21:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15104795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writinginthegutter/pseuds/writinginthegutter
Summary: Sometimes, you just think really hard “Please, please don’t let me run into anyone I know, not now, not here” and, well...





	Bachelorette party essentials

13 minutes

That’s the time it took for Beca to build up the confidence to walk in.

5 seconds

That’s the time she spent in the store before she looked towards the cash register

0.5 second

That’s the time it took for her to see a flash of red hair, recognize a familiar face, and feel her heart drop down to her knees

2 seconds

That’s the time it took for her to turn around and dash towards the door, hoping she would be quick enough to-

“Hi! How could I help you today?”

Beca froze, just short of reaching the door and making a quick exit. Fuck. Fuck.  _Fuck!_

She could already hear fast-approaching steps on the tiles. Too late. She couldn’t leave unnoticed now, and being recognized while running away would probably be even worse anyway. She turned around slowly. 

“Oh my god, Beca! Hi! So good to see you, it’s been  _so_  long! Come here!”

Beca didn’t even have time to react before she was pulled into a heartfelt hug. She responded with a few awkward pats on the back. 

“Hey Chloe...”

Chloe finally pulled back, squeezing Beca’s arms affectionately and looking right into her eyes with that unsettling stare of hers. Even after all this time, those electric blue eyes still gave Beca’s heart a little shock. Beca cleared her throat.

“And here I was, trying to convince myself I wouldn’t run into anyone I know here,” she joked awkwardly, even though it was the absolute truth. She had succeeded, too. After all, what were the odds? It had seemed a safe bet. It looked like she had been wrong. 

Seeing Beca so obviously uncomfortable, Chloe finally seemed to recall the array of colourful dildos hung on the wall behind her. 

“Aw, Becs, it’s nothing to be ashamed of! Anything in particular you’re looking for? I could recommend some of my  _favorite_ -”

“It’s for a Bachelorette’s,” Beca cut her off abruptly, cheeks getting a bit pink.

“Of course,” Chloe agreed, but the mischievous twinkle in her eyes said otherwise. “And what would you like to give this lucky bachelorette?”

“I... I hadn’t really thought about it,” Beca admitted, nervously fumbling with her sleeve. “Something embarassing, I guess.”

_Something at least as embarrassing as running into your high school crush at a sex shop._

_Oh, wait, that’s not embarrassing..._

_Mortifying._

_Mortifying would be the word._

Beca didn’t register a word Chloe said, although she seemed to be talking quite passionately about the vast selection of phallic gizmos and gadgets. They had everything to make a bachelorette’s party... memorable, from hats to paper banners. She quite like the comically large cartoon balloon, but she’d rather die than go to a balloon shop and have it filled with helium. That was already more than enough embarrassment for the day. She settled on some small plastic thing, a keychain or maybe a small figurine, she wasn’t really sure. She barely looked at it before placing it on the counter, desperate to get this exchange over with. 

“Would you like it gift-wrapped?,” Chloe asked, pulling out a hot pink bag, with the name of the store in bold black letters, and topped off with lacy black ribbon. 

“No!” Beca protested, face redder than ever. She quickly grabbed her purchase and threw it in her handbag before Chloe could reach it.

Chloe’s smile only grew, and that was when Beca realised that gift-wrapping was probably not standard procedure for such a small item. Besides, the bag was way too large. After all these years, Chloe still knew how to get a reaction out of her, and Beca made it  _so_  easy. She smiled nervously, partly at her own demise, and partly because Chloe’s smile was so  _damn_  contagious. 

“Alright, well, it was... It was nice seeing you... Not exactly the kinda high school reunion I was expecting...” Beca said it weakly, but Chloe still laughed earnestly. 

“A pleasant surprise! Well, have fun at your party!”

“I will, thank you,” Beca said, almost sighing with relief as this encounter was finally ending. Then, with her hand already on the door, she heard,

“Hope I’ll see you again soon”

She didn’t even have to turn to know Chloe winked. 

_God damn it._

____________

Beca barely slept that night. 

She lay awake in bed, mindlessly turning the rubber cartoon dick in her hand- it was a keychain after all. Her mind was elsewhere. Memories playing back on repeat took her back to 7 years before. 

Just like that, she was fifteen again. Standing awkwardly in her all-girl school’s itchy plaid skirt. Her oversized uniform sweater with the sleeves pulled down to hide her spiky leather bracelets, the hem of a band t-shirt peeking from underneath. Her acne, her clumsily-applied eye-liner, her edgy attitude she tried so hard to maintain, caring way too much about looking like she didn’t care.

And then there was  _her_. Wearing the same uniform, but somehow making it look a thousand times better on her. Fiery red hair styled differently every day, with barrettes and hair ties of every color imaginable. An ever-present bright smile exposing braces with bright pink rubber bands. Always surrounded with at least three other girls following her around like puppies, ready to gossip about whatever boy’s band they were currently into. Basic, terrible boy’s bands that Beca had  _definitely_   _not_  checked out secretly, and whose CD was  _definitely_   _not_  hidden under her bed, 

Chloe was as bright as the sun. Beca could barely stand to look at her directly. She was so  _beautiful_  and  _smart_  and  _good at everything she did_ , it almost infuriating, really. Maybe Beca was just jealous, just feeling some of that teen girl competition that seemed so common in movies. That’s what she tried telling herself when Chloe would look at her or call her name or say something smart in class or look so good in that stupid uniform, and her heart felt like it would burst.

But she knew better, really. 

She hid her feelings, kept them in check. She never told her about it, of course. She made small talk with her at prom when she ran into her, she even signed her yearbook at graduation. 

Then she ran off to some far-away college and never saw her again.

Until now, that is. 

She’d never admit it, but even after graduation, Beca sometimes fantasized about bumping into her again. Just so she’d see Beca now that she had  _partly_  outgrown her edgy phase. Just to see if her heart would still jump like it had when she’d see her in the hallway. 

She had figured she’d see her from afar someday while visiting her hometown. Walking down the street, or maybe having coffee at a local cafe. She didn’t think she’d have to talk to her, especially didn’t think she’d be  _cornered into doing so_. She should’ve known better, This was Chloe, after all. The same Chloe who had decided to pull Beca out of her shell back in high school, who had insisted she’d sit with her at lunch and refused to take no as an answer, who had hugged her tight at graduation. She should’ve known Chloe would always know how to take her out of her comfort zone and nearly give her a heart attack in the process. 

Beca smiled despite herself. Her mind drifted back to the present day, how Chloe had hugged her, looking so genuinely happy to see her again despite the fact they were never really that close, how she had squeezed her arm, how the way she looked right into her eyes still made her nervous. 

Beca couldn’t believe herself. Really, who goes 7 whole years without getting over their high school crush?

She blamed the fact that she still had it bad for her at graduation. All the crushes she’d had after had the time to dissolve naturally, either morphing into a friendship, a short-termed relationship, or simply the realization that that person was just not that great. Her crush on Chloe had been different- it ended with her going off to college. It didn’t have time to peacefully die out. She still had that idealized idea of her. 

That’s all it was, a delusion, a stupid teenage crush she had somehow carried into her twenties, she concluded. All she had to do was refuse to give into it and it would go away on its own. 

She placed the keychain on her bedside table and tried to get some sleep.

____________

3 days

That’s the time Beca’s resolve to never set foot in that store again lasted. 

Before she knew, she was back.

She didn’t spend any time waiting in the car.

She didn’t hesitate when she walked in.

She marched right up to the counter. She walked in quick strides, like a soldier. 

She had to just  _do it_  before her common sense caught up to her, before she started to think and hesitate and turn around. 

“Another bachelorette’s?” Chloe asked, amused. 

“Yeah, I’ve come to get one of these,” She mumbled as she grabbed one of the  _interestingly_   _shaped_  pens on the counter. She got a hold of the discarded “naughty coupons” that were used to test the pens, and scribbled on it. It worked. Good. She willed her hand not to shake as she wrote quickly and set the pen down. 

“Do you only want one, or-” Chloe started as she held the pencil and looked for the barcode. 

Beca was already out of the store before she could finish her sentence.

Beca turned around one last time on the way to her car, just in time to see Chloe’s confused frown turn into a grin as she read the coupon.

6 minutes

That’s the time it took after that for Beca to receive a text from an unregistered number.

“Of course I’ll get coffee with you! How about Saturday? :)”

**Author's Note:**

> In case you're wondering where the inspiration came from: I'm home for the summer, and I noticed my high school's crush former workplace has been replaced by a sex shop. Right next to our former catholic high school.


End file.
